MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WoostAr]

As far as the temperature of gyms goes, I wasn't meaning to start the "whose gym is hottest debate?".....but since we're at it.

I have watched multiple games in Ducey...yes, it's hot in there....this gym at Hamline is notorious for being hot as well....I personally would say it was hotter than Ducey, but who am I to say that?

Point being the gym was hot.

[OxyBob]

Point being the gym was hot.

"The gym was hot" excuse is just as lame as the "we had to fly on a plane" excuse.

OxyBob

[stag44]

That was a disappointing loss for Oxy fans. Claremont won the conference, and went on to the first round of the NCAA playoffs. But I forget, so remind me, what happened in that first round playoff game?

OxyBob

Ouch OxyBob - you really know how to put salt on the wound. No excuses here, Oxy beat us in a very sloppy game where both teams were extremely nervous. We didn't get the ball down to Miles Taylor enough and if I remember correctly a Dylan Marvin hit a backbreaking 3 that did us in. Final score 48-41.

Oxy got the home game even though we won SCIAC by 3 games due to their far superior non-conference record, with a win over Amherst, and rumors have it that they could also draw more revenue in the larger Rush Gym compared to our cozy Ducey.

Another highlight to that season in the SCIAC was the performace Amir Mazeri dropping 57pts @ Oxy late in the season. The entire Stag team was in utter shock when we saw that box score and upset.

[Gray Fox]

Point being the gym was hot.

"The gym was hot" excuse is just as lame as the "we had to fly on a plane" excuse.

OxyBob

Isn't the temperature the same for both teams?

[RFB]

Redlands is playing San Diego State? I'm sure that one will come down to the last shot.

[OxyBob]

Redlands is playing San Diego State? I'm sure that one will come down to the last shot.

Trivia question: Last season, which SCIAC team scored more points in a game against San Diego State than it did against Caltech?

I won't mention any names.

Bob

[magicman]

Redlands is playing San Diego State? I'm sure that one will come down to the last shot.

Trivia question: Last season, which SCIAC team scored more points in a game against San Diego State than it did against Caltech?

I won't mention any names.

Bob

Let me guess. Does the team's name start with an O?

[WoostAr]

Gray Fox...yes, temp is same for both teams....but one team runs 12 deep and presses the whole game and their whole game was predicated on wearing out the other team, while the other (Caltech) usually plays 7 and had played their started 30+ minutes less than 24 hours earlier.

I admit, it doesn't explain getting walloped by 40, but it also wasn't the crux of my post. 

I believe I credited Hamline and said they walloped Caltech.

[Gray Fox]

I heard last night that they are doing some kind of movie about the Caltech victory over Oxy last year.

[stag44]

Ok with the holidays over and most if not all teams back on campus practicing, I was going to write a prediction for the SCIAC, but honestly outside of CMS I really have no clue how it will play out. I think that we can all agree that upto this point the Stags are the class of the SCIAC and their only obstacle will be themselves and staying healthy.

Other teams have show moments of great play:
     Redlands winning their Tournament and then knocking off a highly ranked Puget Sound
     Pomona taking St Thomas to double overtime, competing with Pepperdine and Biola.
     Whitter has been scoring in VOLUME with 2 100+ point games
     Caltech being at .500 going into the break


Instead of giving a full ranking, I'll give you a few BOLD predictions I have for league:

CMS will go 14-0 in SCIAC and host an NCAA game!
CalTech will win at least 2 SCIAC games
The PP @ CMS game this year will be an instant classic
Chris Blees will be go down in the record books as a 3-Time SCIAC POY
ULV will dissapoint and finish 8-6 even returning the bulk of their lineup.
Redlands is for real even though they lost the bulk of their championship team and will finish in the top 4.
Oxy will be the team no one figures out - they will lose some headscratchers and play CMS the most competitively
Whitter is sneaky good and will avg 75+/game in conference

SCIAC Tournament
Redlands @ CMS
Whittier @ PP

PP @ CMS

CMS Wins the SCIAC regular and tournament crown.

[Gromek]

Stag  44    thank you for your insightful analyst,  always an interesting read.

[oldchap]

Eyewitness from Pasadena, Caltech vs. Chapman University:

The Panthers dodged a bullet early on in the game and a potential major embarrassment. They finally went on to win the game by a comfortable margin.

All was not that easy however, as Caltech played equal if not better for the majority of the first half. In fact, Caltech had a 7 point lead with a little over 5 minutes left in the first half. Between turnovers and missed shots, the Panthers looked a lot like the underdog. Caltech, energized by their early success, were playing with a lot of grit and passion and for a while, gave Chapman a lesson in determination.

After a timely time-out by Coach Bokosky though, the Panthers regained their focus and went on a 15-2 run to finish the half with a 6 point lead. Although the Panthers had only managed to score 4 points in the first 7 minutes, they got the last 10 points of the half in less than 3 minutes, forcing 3 turnovers in the process.

The second half saw more of the same from the Panthers, as they quickly ran the lead to 16 points. The Beavers were fouling quite a bit early on, which forced them to rotate their starters. As you know, while the Caltech starting line-up is pretty good and can compete with any team in the SCIAC, the bench just doesn't have quite what it takes to keep up (and I mean no disrespect to this team because I fully admire Caltech's academics standards). In addition, the starters just paid for their early efforts, you could tell at that point that they didn't have much left in their tank.

The Beavers however, managed to keep the score difference under 20 points for the rest of the game but they were largely helped by the most dismal free throw shooting performance by the Panthers in recent memory. In fact, CU was awarded no less than 43 free throws for the entire contest and yet managed to make barely more than half of those!

The Beavers are a much improved team from two years ago and as an earlier poster noted, they have a chance to win a couple of Conference games this year. They defended the perimeter really well (the Panthers only made 1 basket from downtown out of 13 attempts), but they got punished down low (36 points) and had too many turnovers (resulting in 30 points for CU). Their offense is good, with a well-oiled organization and although they didn't shoot well from outside, you can tell that they could light it up at any moment to surprise some teams.

The Panthers were led by Ricard, and although he missed 8 free throws, still ended up with 19 points and 11 rebounds , his second double-double of the season. Justin Young had a career high 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting in only 18 minutes of play and an awesome offensive rebound and dunk coming out of nowhere! Special mention to Spitler and Watson, who typically don't  get a lot of minutes but showed that they belong in this group. The latter was perfect from the free throw line and managed 1 block and two rebounds in the 3 minutes he was on the floor. As an incoming freshman, he has a bright future at Chapman ahead of him.

Chapman can't play at this level tomorrow if they hope to do well against a very decent Hamline team. Let's hope they got their Holiday cobwebs out of the way yesterday and will go into the contest with greater focus and intent.

[goldsoundz]

Caltech also played that game without their best player, Todd Cramer, who decided to transfer out.  Huge blow to the team, as he was their best rebounder and playmaker.  Once Chapman turned the pressure on down 22-15, Caltech turned it over multiple times and Chapman went on a 15-2 run to end the half.

Without Cramer, this is a completely different Caltech team.  They're gonna need major contributions from the two freshmen Joel and Hogue to win in conference.  They'll be playing undersized almost every night so they need to push the pace and make jump shots. They can still win some games but they won't be favored in any matchups.

[Gray Fox]

Where did Cramer go?

[Gregory Sager]

Back to his Manhattan apartment, across the hall from Jerry Seinfeld.